Solo Love Ballad

Chapter 4

To make myself feel better about being poisoned by Max. But I was not being able to spend the weekend with him. So I went back to Tinder.

After swiping left on many people, a brunette guy suddenly caught my attention: Dan.

His first Tinder photo was with his dog, and the second was a full-body shot of him surfing. His face was exactly the type I liked, and it reminded me of the last French-Palatine man.

But Dan was already 32, naturally more mature than him.

I was concerned and wondered if Dan was using old photos of his younger self. I was still eager to pull myself out of my negative emotions. After several messages, I asked Dan to meet that night, and he readily agreed.

He had only been in Hong Kong for two months and wasn’t familiar with the city. We decided to meet near his place in Causeway Bay.

He looked exactly like his photos, maybe even younger. His Australian accent immediately made me feel at home.

He‘s from Sydney. As soon as we talked, we realized that our homes in Sydney are just two streets away, and even the coffee shop we frequent in the morning is the same one.

This kind of shared experience will quickly bring people closer together.

We had a great time chatting throughout dinner. Dan managed to pull my mind away from Max for at least a while.

After dinner, we happily went for drinks. Two drunk people found themselves sitting downstairs from his apartment. We were having a heart-to-heart.

“Why did you move to Hong Kong?” I asked Dan.

“The income for AD people in Sydney wasn’t great.” He smiled and said.

He explained why he left Sydney. But he hadn’t said why he came to Hong Kong.

As I suspected, it’s either for better career prospects or for a woman when a man suddenly changes the course of his life.

So I pressed further:“Anything else?”

He took a sip of his drink and eventually opened up.

“My Hong Kong wife, to be exact is ex-wife. We met and married in Sydney. Then we divorced when my wife cheated on me. She didn’t end up with the person she cheated with. But she moved back to Hong Kong on her own.”

“Actually, you came over here for her ?”

“You could say that.”

Every expat who comes to Hong Kong has reasons, and the outcome—like this city—is a mix of light and shadow.

After struggling with the heartbreak for six months, Dan realized he couldn’t get over her. So he made the big move here only to find out about her. But She had already quickly remarried someone else.

“I had a big house and a good income in Sydney, but now I was living in a place that wasn’t even a full apartment, sharing it with three strangers under the same roof.”

“ I wanted to invite you to my place, but the living situation made me ashamed. ”

As he spoke, it felt like he was saying these things for himself more than me. Living a life like this at 32 must be very hard for him.

“It’s fine, sitting outside is more casual and relaxed anyway,” I tried to ease the awkwardness in the air.

The night breeze gently brushes against the cheeks, bringing a hint of coolness. As the night deepens, the mind becomes increasingly apparent, and the knots that couldn't be untangled during the day slowly unravel in the darkness.

Dan sits expressionless, yet his heart is a whirlwind of emotions. At this moment, I don't even know what to say to break the silence.

Then I turned to the side and hugged him. He rested his head on my shoulder. I heard him sniffle. Was he crying?

Very few times in my life have I felt powerless because of someone else's situation. That night with Dan was one of them.

“If it helps you feel better, just let out everything that’s making you unhappy.”

As soon as I said that, Dan’s sobs grew even louder.

People passing by saw this scene and probably thought. How miserable must this man be, sitting here crying in front of a woman.

We just sat there, and I kept thinking of something to say to comfort him. But after going over it in my head, I swallowed it all back down.

When a man over ten years older than you is crying his eyes out over his failed marriage and life choices, you can't comfort him at all.

At the same time, it also made me quietly worry about my future.

Are romantic relationships doomed to end in disappointment and chaos?

When he finally calmed down, I silently handed him a tissue.

He smiled awkwardly and said, "Sorry, I feel embarrassed. Somehow, I can't seem to control my emotions tonight."

"Everyone has their down times, it's so everyone's in a way. I was still so glad that I could make you feel comfortable and willing to confide in me." I reassured him.

We sat outside his building for a long time. With long stretches of silence, we both became lost in our thoughts.

As the night wore on, my mind shifted from thinking about love to wondering what Max might be doing at that moment.

Could it be that he’s also confiding in other girls at parties? I instinctively glanced at my phone to see if he had any messages, but w******p just lay there silently asleep.

There was a tinge of disappointment—he had forgotten me so quickly.

So I turned to look at Dan sitting next to me. Tonight, he filled the void left by Max’s absence. Perhaps Dan saw me as part of filling his emptiness as well. At least neither of us had to be alone. In the adult world, emotions often flow from one person to another, seeking solace to warm that missing half-circle within our hearts.

Later on, before I even finished my drink, I already really needed to go to the restroom.

"If there was a toilet nearby ?" I asked Dan.

" I wasn't sure. I didn't think for a moment, If you want to come up to my place instead ?" he said.

I was hesitant. But the pain of holding my pee beat my hesitation at the moment.

Dan's building is quite old. The lift shook unsteadily as it moved, but it still had a lift.

The dim light flickered on and off, and in the cramped space of the elevator, scenes from horror movies began to play in my mind. I silently prayed that nothing unexpected would happen.

Suddenly, the elevator bell chimed, and Dan said, "We're here!" It snapped me out of my thoughts, and I sighed in relief.

A long, unlit corridor came into view. The air was thick with the musty smell of an old apartment building, making me shiver involuntarily. Ever since I was a child, I've always felt a creeping unease in places like hospitals, cemeteries, or narrow alleyways behind restaurants where garbage bins are, and I keep fearing something unclean.

I followed carefully, closely behind Dan. I didn’t remember how many doors we passed as we walked down the dim corridor. At last, we reached Dan's door at the far end. At that moment, I could only hope for Dan to unlock the door quickly and free me from the oppressive atmosphere.

As Dan unlocked the front door, I quickly stepped inside, feeling a significant sense of relief.

With three closed doors labeled with a letter in front of us.

Dan took out another key and unlocked the room marked "A." Through a series of door-opening manoeuvres, it was finally possible to enter his room.There was a long table against the wall. To the left of the table was the foot of the bed, with a window on one side and the bathroom door on the other. The bathroom was cramped, with a shower directly over the toilet and no separation between wet and dry areas. The sink was so small that half the water splashed out when you washed your hands.

Dan stood by the table boiling water when I came out of the bathroom.

"Wanted a cup of tea?" He asked.

I shook my head.

He gestured for me to sit on the bed. I looked around and realized there was no other place to sit besides the bed.

"There were a lot of mosquitoes." He said.

He turned off the lights and sat down next to me.

In the darkness, I could hear his breathing and smell the dampness of the sheets.